New Vision Critical Report Identifies Major Gaps in Social Media Data
Companies Use to Analyze Customer Behavior

Analysis of Customer Data from Three Global Brands Reveals 90 Percent
of Social Media Posts Come From Just 30 Percent of a Company’s Social
Media Audience

The Report Uncovers Important Differences in Buying and Consumption
Behavior Between Social Media Enthusiasts and those who Share Less
Frequently

December 09, 2014 09:04 AM Eastern Daylight Time

VANCOUVER, British Columbia--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Vision Critical, the
leading customer intelligence platform provider, collaborated with three
global brands to develop the “What
Social Media Analytics Can’t Tell You” report. Released today, the
report identifies significant gaps in the social media data many
companies use to analyze customer behavior. The Big Data companies
collect and analyze from social networking sites like Facebook
and Twitter has major blind spots
that impact their ability to successfully engage, market to and serve
customers.

“While social media analytics can provides
part of that understanding, companies need to engage in a continuous,
two-way dialogue with their customers in order to get the meaningful
feedback and insight they need to make informed business decisions.”

Three Vision Critical customers, a major motion picture studio, a
renowned broadcasting company and a cross-category apparel brand, looked
at their social media audiences by turning to their Vision
Critical Insight Communities—representative communities of thousands
of customers who provide ongoing feedback through online surveys and
discussions. By combining social media data with customer intelligence,
these companies and Vision Critical
uncovered that just 30 percent of a company’s social media audience is
responsible for 90 percent of updates.

The findings also reveal that the majority of social media users are
quiet, absorbing content others share without posting themselves.
Companies have no visibility into the majority of their social media
audience, even though this group is actively listening to them.
Significantly, the behavior of customers who post frequently on social
media differs in important ways from those who post less often. Users
who frequently share on social media have different purchasing patterns,
TV consumption and recommendation preferences than those who post less
frequently. The report identifies how companies can fill in the gaps
left by social media analytics and how they can cater more effectively
to the majority of their customers in order to become truly
customer-centric.

Comments on the News

“The vast majority of what companies hear through their social media
channels come from an unrepresentative portion of their customers,”
said report co-author Alexandra Samuel, vice president, social media
at Vision Critical. “Most social media users are quiet, viewing
content from friends, but not posting. Much of a company’s social
media audience is invisible, proving that social media analytics tools
don’t capture all social media activity, don’t correctly mirror
customer preferences and poorly represent the entire social media
audience.”

“In the age of the empowered customer, where people have more
influence over a brand and the decisions it makes than the other way
around, companies need a deep understanding of their customers,” said
report co-author Andrew Reid, president, founder and chief product
officer at Vision Critical. “While social media analytics can provides
part of that understanding, companies need to engage in a continuous,
two-way dialogue with their customers in order to get the meaningful
feedback and insight they need to make informed business decisions.”

Customer Data from Top Brands Reveals 90 Percent of Social Media
Posts Come from Just 30 Percent of a Company’s Social Audience

The “What
Social Media Analytics Can’t Tell You” report classifies users into
three types: “Lurkers,” those who post once a week or less; “Dabblers,”
those who post two to four times a week; and “Enthusiasts,” those
posting five times a week or more. While 85 percent of social media
updates come from enthusiasts, this group represents only 30 percent of
a company’s social media audience. Lurkers, accounting for a mere five
percent of posts, represent the majority (52 percent) of a company’s
social media audience.

Because lurkers are quiet on social media, does not mean they’re not
listening. Nearly 70 percent of lurkers visit Facebook at least once a
day, and 90 percent of dabblers are daily Facebook users. For companies,
the findings illustrate that social analytics captures the behavior of
only a small slice of their overall social media audience, and that
lurkers are the largest untapped audience.

The Report Discovers Impactful Differences in Buying and Consumption
Behavior Between Social Media Enthusiasts and Lurkers

How customers behave on social media is a strong indicator of how they
make purchases, watch TV and recommend to friends and family.
Enthusiasts shop differently from the majority of social users. They are
more eager to find a great buy and are more likely to use social media
in the buying process. A quarter of enthusiasts shop for apparel in
big-box stores, compared to only 14 percent of lurkers. Enthusiasts are
also more likely to make both social media inspired purchases (41
percent) and apparel purchases (26 percent) in big box stores.

Enthusiasts also watch different TV shows and follow different topics on
social. A major broadcasting company found that lurkers and enthusiasts
have different preferences in programming. Lurkers enjoy documentary
programs, while enthusiasts watch TV related to fashion and DIY. The two
groups like different social media activities, as well. Enthusiasts
prefer topics about cooking, dining and wine (42 percent), while only a
few lurkers do (19 percent).

Even the most influential social media voices are less impactful when a
company’s entire social audience is considered. Social analytics tell
companies what influencers share and post, but they do not show how
those posts resonate with quieter users. Enthusiasts are more likely to
share an opinion (79 percent) or provide a recommendation (88 percent).
Lurkers, on the other hand, are less interested in influencing their
friends and are also less dependent on their friends’ opinion and input.

More information

Read more about what social media analytics can’t tell companies about
their customers and learn how businesses can get a better understanding
of their entire customer-base by incorporating an insight
community into their competitive strategy by reading the report, “What
Social Media Analytics Can’t Tell You.”

About Vision Critical

Vision Critical provides a cloud-based customer intelligence platform
that allows companies to build engaged, secure communities of customers
they can use continuously, across the enterprise, for ongoing, real-time
feedback and insight. Designed for today’s always-on, social and mobile
savvy customer, Vision Critical’s technology helps large,
customer-centric enterprises discover what their customers want so they
can deliver what they need. Unlike traditional customer research, which
is slow, expensive and gathers dust on a shelf, Vision Critical’s
customer intelligence platform replaces static data and cumbersome
reports with real-time actionable customer intelligence that companies
need to build better products, deliver better services and achieve
better business outcomes.

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